A bundle of basket for PMI services were released this morning from the Euro zone. An overall uplift for the Euro zone to its previous month, seeing an improved performance from Germany and Italy, while there was a small setback for France. No direct effects in the morning session after these figures were released, as all above did come in close to forecasting. Roughly half an hour later, UK released their PMI service numbers too, which to not much of a surprise contracted. The UK economy continue to show signs of struggle and with BoE (Bank of England) holding their interest rate decision on Thursday with expectations of lowering the borrowing costs. The overall assumption of lowering interest rates by 25 basis points will come as a relief for UK businesses and households, while it can also impact the GBP negatively.
This afternoon we do have balance of trade for both Canada and the US. Both forecasting to decrease their budget deficit month on month. With both USD and CAD, underperforming their main trading partners, there is no surprise that imports have slowed down and therefor leading to lower deficits. On top of this, both countries have been strongly involved with the tariff situation and holding off to get a clearer perspective of how to move forward.
GBP/EUR 1.1500 GBP/USD 1.3267 GBP/AED 4.8756
GBP/AUD 2.0569 GBP/CHF 1.0763 GBP/CAD 1.8324
GBP/NZD 2.2549 EUR/USD 1.1525 GBP/ZAR 23.9500